A tip that some of our newer members may not yet be aware of: there is a perennial freebie list, very kindly provided and periodically updated for us by Spec. The latest list is here, and you will always find a link to it near the top of Spec's most recent summary post.

Those of us who have been here awhile probably recognize most of the perennially and frequently free books, and newer members will soon be familiar with them. We would like to again thank Spec for going to the trouble of keeping us updated with these lists. It saves me a lot of time when I too busy to search for bargains myself, and I always appreciate it.

This is the link to this weekend 's Buy One Nook Book, Get One Free. This is an in-store offer and true crime books are being featured this weekend. This offer is available each weekend, but since it is not promoted, I thought I would mention it here.

The fundamental problem with Smashwords titles on the freebies list is this: right now, there are 39,941 free e-books at Smashwords, with somewhere around 250 more being added every week. Posting all of them would hopelessly flood the thread, rendering it useless. Besides which, you can find them directly at Smashwords simply by clicking the "Free" button.

Another consideration is that the freebies thread was intended for limited-time freebies, where if you want that particular title for free, you need to act quickly. Most of the Smashwords titles are permanently free (for some definition of "permanently"). There's no rush.

Also, sometimes Smashwords authors treated the thread as a billboard, posting their own works.

I guess what I'm saying is that the original concept was, "Newsflash: this e-book is free for a few days," not, "Newsflash: here's a new e-book you probably haven't heard of, and it's free." One is a timely alert, the other is just advertising.

Whether the original purpose of the thread is still meaningful, I don't know. Back when it was created, a number of the Big 6 publishing houses, along with some established smaller publishers, did free e-book promotions — full novel-length titles, as opposed to excerpts and short stories. Not so today. Now the big print publishers, and most of the smaller ones, generally provide only short stories and excerpts, and those tend to be permanently free.

Even the Free Fridays selections have become limited to a half-dozen smaller publishers: Kensington, Grove/Atlantic, Abingdon, The Story Plant, Sourcebooks, and "ePublishing Works!". (The first three of those are long-established and probably would take umbrage at me calling them "smaller".) Of late the Free Fridays often adds a "bonus" promotional short work from one of the big publishers.

When you purchase this eBook, you - or the person you are buying it for - will be able to download both ePub and Kindle versions. You may download the book as many times as you like for your own personal use.

*Please note that IVP eBooks are currently not available from thinkivp in North America.

*UNTRUE!!! I JUST DOWNLOADED THIS, HERE IN THE USA, USING MY USA SHIPPING AND BILLING ADDRESS

Publisher's Description

John Stott writes, 'During the gestation of this book I seem to have lived inside the second letter of Paul to Timothy. In imagination I have sat down beside Timothy and have tried myself to hear and heed this final charge from the ageing apostle ...

'On each occasion I have been impressed afresh by the timeliness for today of what the apostle writes, especially for young Christian leaders. For our era is one of theological and moral confusion, even of apostasy. And the apostle summons us, as he summoned Timothy, to be strong, brave and steadfast.'

So, where are we going to post our free books now? I follow some pages on facebook, but the Doug's Free books thread has always been the most extensive free book offering thread. Perhaps we should list our free book acquitisiton methods? Thoughts?